Cardinals’ Arenado hit by pitch, exits WBC semifinal

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - Sunday night’s World Baseball Classic semifinal game between the United States and Cuba brought about some anxious moments for the St. Louis Cardinals.

With the United States leading 9-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado took a pitch off the right hand on a checked swing. After hopping out of the batter’s box and attempting to shake off the stinger on his throwing hand, Arenado was met by a trainer on the field.

Although Arenado’s body language in the dugout seemed to indicate that he didn’t believe he had suffered any sort of major injury, Team USA manager Mark DeRosa was clearly not going to take any chances with the health of the Cardinals’ superstar third baseman.

Arenado was removed from the game and quickly made his way back toward the clubhouse to presumably get more evaluation on his hand. Ken Rosenthal later reported on the FS1 broadcast that X-rays on Arenado’s hand came back negative.

The noise you heard following that report was a collective exhale from the 314.

Arenado and Cardinals teammate Paul Goldschmidt have combined for four hits and five RBIs in the game. Adam Wainwright pitched four innings of one-run baseball and was followed by Miles Mikolas out of the Team USA bullpen.

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